(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of furniture accessories and more specifically to a standing desk accessory that attaches to the back of an office chair.
Every day, millions of people around the world sit in office chairs at desks and perform various tasks such as computer work, crafts projects or other activities. The act of sitting for many hours a day can negatively affect a person's back posture and blood circulation. To counter this problem, some people elect to work at standing desks for varying periods of time; That is, a desk whose height is tall enough to allow a person to stand while performing normal activities at the desk. A number of manufacturers offer standing desks for sale, such as the “Uplift Desk” manufactured by The Human Solution Company of Austin, Tex. However these desks tend to be relatively expensive and therefore present a financial barrier to many individuals who would like to use a standing desk for some portion of the workday. To that end, it would be helpful to provide a desk attachment to an existing piece of office furniture, such as an office chair, that would give users the option of having the use of a standing desk at a much reduced price in comparison to current standing desk models, while limiting the amount of large or bulky furniture an individual must add to their current workspace.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Carmin Celeste, in her U.S. Pat. No. 2,973,028 disclosed a desk attachment for a folding chair where the attachment is fixed to the tubular frame of the chair and allows a flat surface to swing out behind the chair to form a desk surface.
Although the Celeste design, now in the public domain, shows the general concept of a desk surface attached to the top of a chair back, it has several deficiencies. Firstly, this design can not fit onto any standard chair, office chair or otherwise. It only fits on a specific type of tubular folding chair. Second, the desk surface of the Celeste design folds out of the rear of the chair, making the desk top potentially unstable when downward pressure is applied to it because the entire chair might tilt back on itself when excessive weight is placed on the desk top. Third, the Celeste design can not be easily and quickly removed or replaced from the chair as needed.